A crude bomb exploded in the Indian city of Varanasi during a nightly Hindu ritual that draws thousands of pilgrims and tourists. The bomb killed an infant and injured close to 40 others. The Indian Mujahedin, a terrorist group that purports to be made up of radicalized Indian Muslims, claimed responsibility.

Save money, live better—in Africa? The news that Walmart was buying a $2 billion controlling stake in South African retailer Massmart sparked the usual round of threats and protests. South Africa’s powerful un-ions threatened to strike, a move that’s believed to have downsized the Arkansas-based company’s desire to buy Massmart outright.

Earlier this year, Brazil and Turkey infuriated the Obama administration when they announced just ahead of a critical United Nations vote on sanctions against Iran that they had brokered a deal to reprocess Iran’s low-enriched uranium. Now many are wondering if India will be the next to break ranks on Iran.

From Pyongyang to Khartoum, rogue regimes can usually find friends in Beijing—naturally. China is no democracy, so why would it worry about human rights where it can sell arms or drill for oil? This week, however, it’s not China but proudly democratic India that’s rolling out the red carpet for one of the planet’s most repressive dictators.

When it comes to fighting global warming, much of the world’s attention has focused on ways to eliminate coal-fired power plants, promote electric vehicles, and build wind farms. But what if there were something far simpler and more low-tech that would have the same benefit as taking more than half the cars in the United States off the road?

The Kashmir valley has been convulsed by a series of violent protests since June. Demonstrations that began over alleged extrajudicial killings by Indian security forces quickly spiraled out of control, claiming at least 15 civilian lives—with each new death leading to another round of protest marches and more deaths as paramilitary police met rock-hurling demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition.

More than 25 years after a pesticide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal spewed a toxic cloud that killed as many as 25,000 people, an Indian court last week finally sentenced seven former executives involved in the disaster.

On June 21, two Chinese military helicopters swooped low over Demchok, a tiny Indian hamlet high in the Hima-layas along the northwestern border with China. The helicopters dropped canned food over a barren expanse and then returned to bases in China. India's military scrambled helicopters to the scene but did not seem unduly alarmed. This sort of Cold War cat-and-mouse game has played out on the 4,057-kilometer India-China border for decades. But the incident fed a media frenzy about "the Chinese dragon." Beginning in August, stories about new Chinese incursions into India have dominated the 24-hour TV news networks and the newspaper headlines.China claims some 90,000 square kilometers of Indian territory. And most of those claims are tangled up with Tibet. Large swaths of India's northern mountains were once part of Tibet. Other stretches belonged to semi-independent kingdoms that paid fealty to Lhasa. Because Beijing now claims Tibet as part of China, it has by extension sought...

As Sri Lanka's military all but vanquished the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last month, the 25-year ethnic conflict finally seemed to be over. But unless President Mahinda Rajapaksa gives Tamils real autonomy, it's only a matter of time before violence flares again.Many Tamils would be ready for a deal with Colombo. Few of them backed the LTTE's calls for independence or its vicious tactics. But they want greater political autonomy, as well as respect for their religion, language and customs—and Rajapaksa is offering few compromises. He's failed to enact promises to devolve power to the country's provinces and has installed loyalists in Tamil areas. And his harsh treatment of Tamils fleeing the battle—human-rights groups say the military shelled civilians being used as shields by the LTTE and interned refugees in camps—have only aggravated the sense of alienation among Tamils.If Colombo truly wants reconciliation, it will have to do the following: hold free elections in...

If YOU'VE NEVER WORRIED about the six-pack aging in your fridge, start now. You're about to discover the newest gimmick in the beer business, and the oldest trick in marketing: create a need, then answer it.This week the nation's biggest brewer, AnheuserBusch, begins labeling each can and bottle of Bud or Michelob with a birth date ("Born on" July 4, for example) and a warning to drink up before 110 days. A multimillion-dollar campaign will explain that just as with bread or milk, when it comes to beer freshness counts.Never mind that beer never goes bad. True, after several months it oxidizes, acquiring a cardboardy taste. But big-label beers quickly move off the shelf, and are already coded to warn distributors when they've sat too long.The real targets of this brewhaha are upstarts like Boston Beer Co.'s Sam Adams, which have been tough competition for the likes of Bud. Smaller breweries have prospered with an image of homemade (read: fresh) quality.Now, Bud and the other...